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Tuesday, 31 January 2017

Over at the Lead Adventure Forum, Fred has posted a great little right up of a double sized game of Irregular Wars, pitting two forces of Royal English against a pair of Mogul armies. It was so good to see that I repost it here (with permission).This is from some months ago, so details are a bit vague, but I have a good few pictures!The forces arrayed were Royal English vs Moguls - not something you would expect for a good few hundred years more!. We wanted a big game, and matched the armies to availability of figures, rather than historical likelihood. The Royal English were represented by 10mm WM Empire figures, the Moguls by a mix of Araby and Goblin figures (hey, it worked as a game, no matter how odd it seems written down now!!).We had 4 companies per side, I was commanding two of the Royal English companies, one blue, one red. The Mogul commander took huge amounts of the very cheap Hindu Levy - he tends to favour cheap tat.

My troops crest the hills while the Mogul light cavalry advance. My blue company was deployed a little too wide, and spent much of the game getting forwards, while masking its own cannons!

On the right flank, it is a similar story.

Mid-game, looking down the table. Right at the far end is a big punch-up. On the left near the windmill are Mogul Rockets, which I recall were hugely ineffective. In front of them, was a bit of a Mexican stand-off.

The Irish Kerns have just forded the river, much to the consternation of the Mogul player defending the village, as he hadn't realised they had the Wild rule so could cross terrain easily. Some of my cavalry have engaged in-front of the wood, they are getting the worst of it, but have drawn the enemy forwards, while my troops slog through the wood. Nearest the camera the majority of my troops come round the flank, as the enemy withdraws from them.

The left flank from the same time as the photo above.

And the right.The End

Where have all the Moguls gone? My red company sweeps out the forest to engage the cavalry - getting flank charges and overruns. Causing carnage through direct combat, and through the impact of the loss of nearby friends. The Hindu levy troops were particularly fragile. I recall that the commander's unit was very effective, with an initial flank charge, then rolling a 6 to get a free follow-up charge where he wanted!The blue company finally engages - again sweeping away levy when the Demi-Lancers charged (who might look very like Gendarmes!).

Sunday, 15 January 2017

I decided late last year to create a Saxon army for Dux Bellorum. I already had two units of Saxons painted up with a blue, white and black theme in my predominantly red white and black Romano-British army of Rheged, so that was always going to be my jumping off point. However, depriving Rheged of it's foederati meant that I would have to find new, stout men of the northwest to reinforce the depleted army.

I have previously posted these gents, another unit of noble riders, bringing me up to the maximum of three units in the army.

This weekend I finished off another shieldwall of common spearmen. They will compliment the only other remaining unit of Romano-British shieldwall left in the army (below). Of course, should I decided to take a more stolid army against those raving Hibernians, I can always invite the Saxon spearmen back on a short term contractual basis, doubling my pool of available infantry.

I have already bought, divided and undercoated my remaining six warbands of Saxons, so they are next up in the painting ques.

Thursday, 12 January 2017

Avast! Fayre Winds & Foul Tides, the expansion volume for Galleys & Galleons is now available as a 6"x9" softcover from both Amazon and Lulu.If you haven't already heard about it, Fayre Winds & Foul Tidesprovides everything you need the bravely sail beyond the Seven Seas.New special rules - FWFT introduces 51 new special rules to further customise your fleets, including traitorous captains, mutinous crews, indirect fire and ironclads.

New terrain - The seas just got more dangerous with a range of new terrain features including icebergs, volcanoes and assorted native islanders.

Advanced rules for flyers - Take the fight to the skies with advanced flying rules and new types of flyers, from da Vinci inspired ornithopters and lace-pulp airships, to dragons, gryphons and flying carpets.

Magic - The tides of magic cause additional waves on the tabletop with new rules for shipborne sorcerers and magical creatures. Seven schools of magic give a range of unique spells and other magical abilities with which to destroy your foes (and confound your friends).

Tuesday, 10 January 2017

Ralph over at the Wargaming in Central Oregon blog has been in contact to let me know about his fantastic East African campaign using Irregular Wars. He already has Portuguese, Zanj (also can be Omans when camels/horse included), Interior Native, Ming and Ottoman armies painted up, with Abyssinians on the way.

In the photo above, Zanj forces (left) launch their attack on the Portuguese of Lord Renaldo (right). The blog is well worth a read with characterful battle reports that draw you in and create a great little narrative.If you are interested in the flow chart he uses to streamline campaign decisions and resources, it can be found HERE.

Sunday, 8 January 2017

Although my existing European Empire battle group for Horizon Wars contains more elements that I can realistically use in a single game, I wanted to play around with other force types and compositions. With that aim in mind I have created the Elysium Trading Corporation's military division, the Pegasus Force. The infantry are Onslaught neo-shinobi, the artillery are... I can't quite remember. The mech is my old favourite, IRN Mech! As with all my Horizon Wars stuff, these will also work for Mighty Monsters/Samurai Robots Battle Royale.

Thursday, 5 January 2017

On the first day of 2017, the army of the Macedonians in Asia, led by Antiochos, the Great King, and supported by sundry indigenous national contingents, confronted an invasion force of western barbarians led by the arch-tyrant Scipio himself.The rules were L'Art de la Guerre, with 200 point 6mm armies, based on 40mm bases. I forgot to bring my camera, so all images have gracefully been supplied by Imperator Brett who was fielding the western barbarians, otherwise know as the Romans.

The Romans deployed with a command of Gallic cavalry supported by Gallic warbands on the left, an elite legion in the centre (led by Scipio himself!), and a regular legion on the right. Facing them, by Seleukids had a mixed command of elite heavy cavalry, horse archers, Galatian warbands and Cretan archers on the right led by Antiochos, a pike block supported by elite elephants in the centre, and a weaker command of archers, scythed chariots and heavy cavalry on the left facing the Roman legion.

On the Roman right/Seleukid left, the Roman legion was slow to advance, sending it's two velite units forward to probe the Seleukid line and promting an uncontrolled charge of scythed chariots. The chariots actually held up quite well considering the circumstances and stalled the entire advance of the Roman left. The Arab archers and Anatolian slingers on the Seleukid left rained fire on the opposing velites from both Roman legions, driving them from the field.

On the Roman left, the Gallic cavalry performed what was, for Brett, an amazing feat of cavarlyness, swinging off to the left and outflanking the Seleukid line. However, by accompanying his cavalry, the Roman left wing commander abandoned his warbands who sat at the back waiting to have their uncontrolled charges activated.

In the centre, the two infantry lines advanced towards each other with the Romans moving faster and maneuvering around a patch of brush, trying to match their triarii with the Seleukid elephants. Meanwhile, Antiochos advanced his heavy cavalry, Galatian warbands and Cretans to outflank the Roman centre, leaving just the Skythian horse archers to mess with the outflanking Gauls.

The lines clashed in the centre. The melee went initially in favour of the elite Romans who managed to get a velite unit around the flank of the left-most pike phalanx. However, the arival of the Galatian warband on the Roman left flank suggested that the Romans had to press their advantage swifly, or fail.

Over on the far left of the Roman line, the two Skythian horse archer units in the pay Antiochos were causing a minor havoc. One unit caused the Gallic warband to charge uncontrollably away from the big central melee, while the other had forced one of the Gallic cavalry units to turn back from their outflanking ride.

However... the remaining Gallic cavalry had made good on their ride to victory, closing on the Seleukid camp, far ahead of the Seleukid heavy cavalry who had turn back from the front line to pursue them.

Too late, the Seleukid cavalry caught up with the Gauls, destroying one unit, but not before the camp was pillaged and the wealth of Asia dispersed among the barbarians.

However, despite their initial mauling in the centre, the Seleukid elephants and Galatian support burst through the opposing triarii and turned the flank of the Roman line. On the right of the Roman line, their own velites had been driven off and Seleukid slingers were also conducting a flank attack. All the pike blocks were badly bruised, but none had broken.And that was enough to end the game as a glorious victory for the House of Seleukos - starting the year as they mean to continue. Despite the very daring Gallic raid on the Seleukid camp, the Roman's failed to destroy a single Seleukid unit. However, Seleukid shooting paid huge dividends, particularly on the Seleukid left, destroying most of the Roman light infantry before the lines closed.Despite having a huge numerical superiority on the Roman right/Seleukid left, the Romans did not or could not press their advantage and stalled their advance in the face of the arrow shower and scythed chariots. At the end of the day, the Seleukid pikement held as an anvil, and the elephants cracked the Roman resolve like a glorious hammer!